Re: Salinger & Zen
J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Thu, 28 May 1998 22:07:47 -0400 (EDT)
On Thu, 28 May 1998 13:50:11 -0700 (PDT) Michael Sussman
<qironzh@rocketmail.com> writes:
>I'm interested in discussing it. But it might not be that fruitful. If
>you do a "straight" read of SAI p. 208 which continues "I'm profoundly
>attracted to classical Zen literature,...but my life itself couldn't
>conceivably be less Zenful than it is, and what little I've been able
>to apprehend...of the Zen experience has been a by-result of following
>my own rather natural path of extreme Zenlessness." So any Zen
>Buddhist attitude in Salinger is coincidental.
>
I don't know about your very last sentence, although I like everything
else in your post. Are you sure Buddy (I'm assuming it's Buddy's voice
you're quoting) hasn't progressed so far down the Zen path that he's
seeing how UnZenlike he really is? Did you quote a statement made by a
person who has attained a level of mature self effacement, or by someone
flip and calloused? I think the former. I think there is a legitimate
undercurrent of Zen philosophy. How deep that undercurrents runs will
always be a matter of debate, though, I'm sure...
Jim
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